American Equity Investment Life Holding Company (NYSE:AEL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Anant Bhalla: Hi, Ryan. Good morning. Yes, short answer, yes. We really focus on our bread and butter, which is FIA. MIGA is competitively priced to deliver returns. We have the reinsurance arrangement in place now with our reinsurance partner there. And it will be because as we grow Eagle, it becomes reality, especially in the bank channel, and we’re making sure we’re writing good IRRs in that business.

Ryan Krueger: Got it. Thanks. And then Axel, I believe you gave numbers for expected DAC amortization in liver reserve. I think I missed the numbers. I was hoping you could repeat them. And then related to that, were those under the prior GAAP accounting or are those under LDTI?

Axel Andre: Yes, hi, Ryan, let me go through the numbers again. They own a pre LDTI basis. The €“ I mentioned that that DAC, DSI amortization, the €“ the model expectations is $126 million, whereas for the SOP 03-1 reserve, the expectation is $60 million for next quarter. And I added as a reminder that both of those expectations include expected index credits, should index credits in fact, be zero in the first quarter. It would add an additional $10 million to DAC, DSI amortization and another $20 million to SOP reserve accretion.

Ryan Krueger: Will it will €“ under LDTI, will there still be that similar type of sensitivity from index credits will that be more limited?

Axel Andre: So, I am going to comment on LDTI really on the next earnings call. But consistent with the rollout of the new framework, we are also adjusting our definition of operating income to reflect what we believe is a long-term underlying core operating earnings of the company. And so in that slide, we aim to adjust for volatility that is expected to be non-recurring and non-directional. And so certainly, some adjustments for the level of €“ or the market volatility, equity or interest rate related would be part of that, so again, more to come on that. In the future through our restated financial supplement that will come out ahead of the Q1 earnings call and in the earnings for itself.

Ryan Krueger: Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And one moment for our next question. And our next question comes from John Barnidge from Piper Sandler. Your line is now open.

John Barnidge: Thank you very much, and good morning, appreciate the opportunity. My first question, the $250 million operating expense guidance, I know you previously talked about working to complete a sidecar in €˜23. Did that operating expense guidance include the assumption that, that is completed this year?

Anant Bhalla: Yes. Hi John, yes.

John Barnidge: Great. Thank you. And then the move to private assets to 22% from I believe it was 18% last quarter. Do you anticipate hitting that low end of the 30% to 40% target in €˜23?

Anant Bhalla: I will let Jim add to that. The short answer is no, not in €˜23, but I will let Jim add some more color to it. Jim?

Jim Hamalainen: Yes. Hi, this is Jim Hamalainen. I think that number is probably more likely out a little further than 2023. Our goal is to continually source assets through the cycles. And so that will get us €“ certainly be closer at the end of the year than we are now, but it probably takes us into €“ a little bit into the next year.

John Barnidge: Thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you. And one moment for our next question. And our next question comes from Erik Bass from Autonomous Research. Your line is now open.

Erik Bass: Hi. Thank you. Given the increase in surrenders that you are seeing, how are you thinking about renewal rate increases and whether it makes sense to give us some spread to retain more business? And I guess related to that, how should we think about the cost of money going forward?